Petshark: Talking Stick

Entries with the tag: sena acolatse

News that I completely missed last week: Sena Acolatse is back in the Worcester lineup, has been since March 1st. I may be inattentive but I think that is exciting, awesome and a good thing for the Sharks.

Worcester only played two games since last Monday, a relatively leisurely schedule for the AHL. Saturday, Sebastian Stalberg scored the only first period goal to give the Sharks the lead over the Providence Bruins. The Sharks had a fair chance to take a two goal lead when James Livingston was awarded a penalty shot but Bruins' goalie Niklas Svedberg stopped that. The Bruins came back in the second to score two power play goals and take the lead away. A couple of minutes later, James Livingston tied the game back up. In the third, the Bruins retook the lead and it wasn't until 19:00 of the regulation that John McCarthy tied it again. The game went to a seven-round shootout that the Bruins won with goals from Craig Cunningham and Trent Whitfield. The one Sharks shootout goal was scored by Denny Urban.

It's a little like a combination lock being opened, the roster spinning that ECHL and AHL teams will have to do in the next week. The CBA documentation may not be in order yet, but the roster shuffle has started in anticipation of NHL training camps opening this weekend. The SF Bulls' Andrew Crescenzi and Jamie Devane will be heading back to Toronto tonight. Who else will go? Possibly one, or three more, according to this SF Weekly report. Depends on whether or not the two from Toronto were counter there.

The Worcester Sharks of the AHL have a lot of players out with injuries right now. Off the top of my head: Tim Kennedy is likely to be out for some time. Curt Gogol is still recovering from an ugly hit that resulted in a suspension many have deemed inadequate. I didn't see it but I'll believe the reports. Brandon Mashinter did not play in the last game, and a minor injury was mentioned. Defenseman Sena Acolatse was also absent for the last game due to an injury. Bracken Kearns, who did finish the game Sunday, was absent for a bit of that game getting his hand repaired after a fight. So that could be not actually okay. I know I missed someone in there, but the gist of it is that the Sharks' AHL team has all kinds of players missing right now. NHL training camp can only shorten their bench.

Cap Geek released the details of the new contracts for Andrew Desjardins (1 year, $640k) and Justin Braun (3 years with average cap hit of $1.25m). Information about Tommy Wingels’ contract was released a little earlier, but to make the list complete, he has a 2 year contract with a cap hit of $775k. Also made official yesterday was Brad Stuart’s contract, 3 years at $3.6m.

So, what next? The Sharks are still looking for a winger or two, and they are a little cap heavy on defense. Numbers-wise, there are only 7 NHL defensemen under contract. If they decide they cannot have so much cap space wrapped up on defense, they will have to move one of the blue liners to get that winger they want. “That winger…” Gee, where have I heard that before? Oh well, at least they’re not shopping for defense.

Moving a defenseman out would leave them with Worcester prospects or someone from free agency to fill in the seventh spot. How confident are they that they could go into next season with only Worcester players to fill in as the seventh defenseman? Last season the team used all 8 defensemen, even called up a 9th at one point. So, are the Sharks ready to start with only 6 proven NHL d-men now?